A Banksy image of Steve Jobs in The Jungle in Calais (Picture: REX Shutterstock)

‘More broadly, these results support previous suggestions that analysis of minor terrorism-related acts (eg graffiti) could be used to help locate terrorist bases before more serious incidents occur, and provides a fascinating example of the application of the model to a complex, real-world problem.’

The Mail on Sunday has reported that Gunningham, in his 40s, was educated at the £9,240-a-year Bristol Cathedral School.

Publication of the new study had been put on hold after Banksy’s lawyers contacted QMUL.

Geographic profiling was used in the study

Biologist Steve Le Comber, a co-author of the report, told the BBC: ‘I’d be surprised if it’s not (Gunningham), even without our analysis, but it’s interesting that the analysis offers additional support for it.

‘What I thought I would do is pull out the 10 most likely suspects, evaluate all of them and not name any.

‘But it rapidly became apparent that there is only one serious suspect, and everyone knows who it is.

‘If you Google Banksy and Gunningham you get something like 43,500 hits.’